The Battle for Cereon
by Blip-chan
Summary: The Tau, having abandoned the fertile Cereon system, have suddenly returned to help the Imperium stave off an ork attack. What does this mean for all the parties involved? Based on an RP, so posting may be slow.
1. Chapter 1

The Valkyrie touched down noisily on the plascrete landing pad, the exhaust from the twin turbojet engines gusting the flags on the battlements. Sergeant Valkarian vaulted from the open passenger compartment door as soon as the vehicle ground to a halt, not waiting for the massive thrusters to power down. As his men filed out behind him, he examined the planetary capital's fortifications surrounding them, and sighed. So this is the best Cereon Secundus can offer, eh? Well, they can keep it. They were perfectly adequate defenses for any normal attack, but he knew that a true Ork Waaaaagh was anything but normal. Scratching the scar on his shoulder from a close call with a choppa, he turned to face his troops. There was no-one there to meet them - typical Imperial inefficiency - but it was customary to give soldiers an address before sending them into battle, and he was the highest-ranking officer there, so...

"Alright, listen up. This system is under attack by the foul Ork hordes, and it's our job to defend it." He scanned the assembled Guardsmen, looking each man in the eye. "Most of you know me, and the rest of you have heard of me. So believe me when I say, this isn't gonna be easy. Orks fight hard, and die harder. If you down one, make sure it's dead - they often try to fake you out, to make you get close and drop your guard." He paused a moment, and grinned. "And whatever you do, don't drink all the alcohol in town... at least before I get some!" He turned back towards the city, a corner of his mouth quirking up at his men's chuckles. He wasn't a very good public speaker, but he had his moments. Now, to find someone who could tell him where his company was bunked...

Sergeant Valkarian and his men filed slowly through the crowded spaceport, throngs of civilians trying to escape the green tide. Spotting an Imperial officer, Lukas made his way towards the man, motioning for his troops to follow. As he walked, Lukas spotted a secretive man wearing an expensive nanomesh stealth suit gesticulating at him. Lukas shrugged and kept walking. He'd never had much truck with the Assassination temples, and didn't plan to start now -- the sheer inhumanity of their operatives unnerved him.

Coming to a semblance of attention before the officer, Valkarian saluted lazily. The officer frowned at him. "Ah, Sergeant Valkarian... Your reputation precedes you, I'm afraid. There'll be no long settling in period for you. No, we're sending you straight to the front. You'll report to Colonel Mayana, here's a chit for an APC. She'll be expecting you, so don't be late!" Taking the proffered chit, Lukas sighed and headed off for the motor pool.

The Chimera rumbled along the deserted highway, trailing a cloud of exhaust. Lukas lounged in the front passenger seat, conversing lazily with the driver on the merits of different brands of amasec. "Yeah, but Clarion always leaves a bad taste in your mouth the morning after. That's why-" He broke off, reaching for the binocs. Peering intently up at the sky, he frowned. That's not an Imperial craft... And it doesn't look anything like an Ork vessel, either. He motioned the driver to speed up, and reached for the vox. "Battle stations, folks. Unknown alien vessel, 12 'o clock high. There's no telling who this is, so don't fire unless fired upon -- we don't want to start ANOTHER war when we've already got a perfectly good one waiting for us." Clicking off the vox, he checked the charge on his long las, and made sure he had another cartridge ready to hand. Whoever they are, they better watch out... Sergeant Valkarian's ready for 'em.

* * *

Oooh!" Yan'ta cooed, leaning up close to the window. The blocky from of imperial vehicles always amazed her; they were so different from those of the Tau. She quickly snapped a few pictures of it before Ufa'myr's sudden change of direction removed the tank from view and sent her tumbling back into her seat. The Por'ui made a disappointed sound, "Why did you do that? I was getting some good images."

"We are going to land over there and wait for them to come to us. If that fails we will walk in on foot. I do not doubt that to Gue'la eyes our craft seems very threatening." Ufa'myr said in a calm voice.

"But we have no weapons!" Protested Yan'ta, craning her neck in an attempt to catch sight of the Chimera again. Ufa'myr sighed.

"But they do not know that. You know as well as I that these Gue'la are inclined to shoot first." The Por'vre paused, then added, "Also, I want to land somewhere empty. I am no Kor."

***

Despite Ufa'myr's stated lack of piloting skills, she managed to land the skimmer safely and without incident. The round door slid open with a soft hum and they all stepped out onto the grass.

"Alright, so, what now?" Asked Yan'ta, looking around, "I don't see anyone to talk with." Ro'aloh climbed to on top of the skimmer as Ufa'myr smiled and explained.

"If I am right, the Gue'la vehicle you saw should be coming this way in a few Rai'kor. That way they will be coming to us. It will give them the feeling of control they all seem to desire."


	2. Chapter 2

Through the pristine landscape, Damien spared no time for sight-seeing. He ran as fast as he could, and as hard as he could. His troop carrier shot down just a few days ago..

Damien looked to the Lieutenant Commander and stared for a moment before looking away. The Lieutenant Commander looked over to one of his men, "What's with the Assassin?" The man shrugged, "I don't know, sir. He's just part of our mission." The Lieutenant Commander raised an eyebrow, "We aren't on a reconnaissance, we're on a deep-drive into enemy territory. He's of no use in the fight we're getting into." Damien looked back over to him and shouldered his gun. He stood up and held onto the hand-bar attached to the ceiling. Damien pushed up his visor and looked to the Lieutenant Commander, "This gun killed War-Boss Spinecracka.. Don't underestimate what I can do, Lieutenant Commander." The Lieutenant Commander eyes glared and he began to speak when an explosion rocked the small craft. It's left main wing and engine were dead and on fire. They crashed into a heavily forested area, where the shots had come from.

Damien now saw the ship landing that belonged to Company Sargent Lucas Valkarian and his men. Damien sighed and walked slowly towards them. He stopped a small distance away and made signs with his hand to see if the company was safe or could be hostile towards him.

Damien watched as the man walked on and got into his transport. He sighed and walked forward to the base. A man there looked to him, "Report, Vindicare Damien Khallos!" Damien shouldered his gun, "Ork A.A., 3 shots hit, engine failure and wing blown off, and we crashed. I was the only one not injured, came for help, while scouting the area a bit, I had Ork commandos on my radar, teams probability of still living.. 0% chance, sir." Damien lifted up his visor and put the large rifle on his back. The man shook his head, "Where did the craft crash at?" Damien shrugs, "I don't know, sir. I believe it was over 15 miles east of here, I've had to run all the way, and I believe it was the forest to the Northeast, sir." The man salutes Damien, "Tha'll be all, Vindicare." Damien gives a small salute, "So, where am I going next?" The man looks to him, "You'll be joining the Company Sergeant Lukas Valkarian, since your original mission is failed." Damien salutes him again, "Yes, sir. Where is my transport vehicle, sir?" The man looks to him, "Oh, you'll be in a Chimera, take the last one on the right." Damien nods and walks off towards the transports.

He walks to the one he was pointed to and the driver tips his hat to Damien. Damien gets in and sits down, the driver looking around, "Aye, no body else is comin' with ya?" Damien looks to the man and flips his visor down, "No body else is needed." The man raises an eyebrow and nods, "Alright, then. Let's get'a movin'." The Chimera rolls out and Damien sits back. It goes along the same path Lukas went on. The driver looked at the cloud left over from the drop-pod that smashed into the dirt. Damien got up and into the co-driver seat, "That's an Imperial Drop Pod.. What is the Space Marines doing here?" In the not so far distance, the other Chimera's exhaust cloud could be seen. Damien's Chimera was catching up to them, and would soon be right behind them at the speed they were going.

* * *

Kragznug looked down at the battlefield ,which had Imperial Guard and his Boyz mukin about. They were just killing a small scouting party. Not nearly a big enough scrap to keep his boyz satisfied, but they had to live with it. He ran down to the scrap and grabbed a guard with his klaw and held him up. The Guardsman screamed in terror and pain as he squeezed the small human. Kragznug then dropped the human to the ground and stomped on his back. He left his weight crush the man's spine and kill him. After the party was dead his boyz were collecting the heads from them, he didn't see a reason to look the skulls of low humies like these. He went back to his personal wartrukk and waited for his boyz to finish up so they could leave.

Kragznug was still still standing by the trukk waiting for the boyz to finish up. They started to return until the radio in the trukk went off. The mek boy that was driving picked it up with his oversized hand to respond. "Say dat again." The mek said into the receiver. "Git da boss!, I'z got some news!" The mek boy leaned over the side of his tukk so that Kragznug could hear him. "Boss! Some git on da radio want ya!" Kragznug walked over to the front and grabbed the radio with his klaw. It was hard to push the button and not crushing it. "It bettah be good!" There was more static until the voice came back again. "Boss, me an da otha kommandos took down a transport full of humies in da forest!" He took a moment to absorb the information, a ship downed in the forest means little chance of surviving, because the orks love it there. "Kill em all!"

In The jungle where the ship crashed the kommandos were sneaking in on the guard boyz. They had branches on and were covered in dirt to blend in more. The largest kommando had a radio with him, meaning he was the one that contacted the warlord. Most had shootas that were covered up with foliage as well while some had a small shoota and a choppin knife. They all hard a sneer on their faces from the killing that they were gonna do.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Reviews would be nice. *Wink, wink* I know I have people reading this. Please? Sorry it took me so long for an update. The favs really helped me jump-start my writing. You know who you are.

"Brother-Captain, heavy Xenos activity detected in the nearby Cereon System. It appears to be Tau and Ork. According to the Logs, there's also an Imperial Guard presence on the planet."

"Hmm, Ork and Tau. We don't have troops to spare, but I'm not so sure the Guard will be enough to hold out..."

"I will go, Brother-Captain. I can do more good there than here."

"Are you sure, Tankius? It may be some time before we can retrieve you."

"I am sure."

"Very well, prepare for Orbital Drop. We don't have time to waste so we'll be dropping you off and leaving. Navigator, set course for Cereon."

---------------------------

A Space Marine Strike Cruiser dropped out of warp and moved into orbit around the planet Cereon. The Brother-Captain commanding the ship quickly made contact with the planet's leadership, an easy feat considering his ship had suddenly appeared in orbit around the planet, in order to inform them that they were transfering a unit planetside to assist with the invasion. He was brief, and a single drop-pod was dropped shortly after the com-link was terminated. As soon as the pod was clear of the ship, it pulled out of orbit and dissappeared into the immaterium.

---------------------------

Shortly after the Tau reporters disembarked their skimmer, a loud roar filled the air and what appeared to be a meteorite screeched down from the sky, falling rapidly towards the ground below. However, as it grew closer, it became more and more apparent that it was not a meteorite approaching the Tau and Guardsmen, but in fact an Imperial Drop Pod, the kind often used by Space Marines for Orbital Drops.

As the pod rocketed through the atmosphere, the Guardsmen's radios buzzed to life, informing them that Space marine reinfoecements were arriving at their position, and telling them to be prepared to recieve them. Shortly afterwards, the pod impacted between the Tau and Guardsmen, shaking the ground and sending up a plume of dirt into the air.

As the dirt began to settle, the drop pod doors dropped open, crashing uncerimoneously to the dirt. There was a clanking sound, followed by heavy footsteps as a Venerable Dreadnought made its was out of the pod. It looked even better made and maintained than traditional Dreadnoughts, and its black and white armor glinted in the sunlight. Symbols, hymns and various other adornments clung to its body. Instead of the traditional power-claws favored by Dreadnoughts, it was outfitted with what looked more like large, modified versions of Terminator Power Fists, and its legs were modeled to articulate like a humans. Altogether, the Venerable Dreadnought seemed more human in shape than its normal counterparts.

The Dreadnought looked about, as if debating whether to approach the Imperial Guard to its right, or engage the Tau to its left.

Space Marines?! While Lukas was certainly glad to have someone between him and screaming death, the presence of the Angels of Death meant that this little border skirmish was a lot more serious than he'd thought. He moved to the back of the Chimera, clambering awkwardly through the compartment door. A muttered conversation later, he pulled himself up into the open turret on top of the vehicle. He raised a hand in greeting as the APC rolled to a stop next to the drop pod. As the dust cleared, Lukas' eyes widened imperceptibly. Emperor's teeth, they sent a dreadnought? What have I gotten myself into this time... He lifted the external vox-link as the rear passenger door opened and his comm specialist disembarked.

"Hail, Fist of the Emperor!" Okay, maybe I'm not as good at this stuff as I thought. "It appears I'm the first to welcome you to Cereon Secundus, but I'm under orders at the moment and cannot stay long." And, Dreadnought though he be, he doesn't need to know what those orders are yet... "I'm leaving my vox operator with you, he can get in contact with Imperial HQ if you require any assistance from the Guard." He waved at the man, already jogging towards the small crater left by the drop pod's meteoric entry. Giving a parting salute that was much more courteous than the one he'd given to the officer in the spaceport, Lukas dropped back into the Chimera as the driver started the engines back up with a roar.

"Alright, that's dealt with for now... Jackson, drive on. It looks like that craft put down on the other side of that ridge, if you go around to the east we'll give 'em plenty of time to see us, so they won't think we're sneakin' up on 'em or anything. And don't worry about saving gas -- looks like we're going to be late enough as it is, and that's just gonna make this Colonel even happier to see me." The Chimera drove off, leaving Vox Operator O'Malley standing in front of the adamantium monolith. Already shorter than average, the guardsman was dwarfed by the ancient Space Marine, but the grin on his face was large enough for both of them. "So, nice day, 'aint it?"

The Dreadnought stood tall and silent as it was briefed by the Guardsman. It remained silent, even as the Vox Operator disembarked the Chimera and the light tank made its leave. It wasn't until the operator spoke that the massive machine reacted, bending down slightly so that he could see the dimunative Guardsman.

"A nice day, indeed." The Dreadnought said, voice deep and rough, as if it had dragged itself through the thousands of years the marine had been interred within the Dreadnought.

"Put me in contact with HQ. I must inform them of my arrival and request orders."


	4. Chapter 4

Outstanding notice

As of now, I am moving my fanfiction archive to another archive site. If I have chosen to continue any of the works currently incomplete, they will be cross posted there.

The link (minus the spaces): /users/ allofthefandoms

If the work is not on that page, it has been discontinued.


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